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there is a God who will always help whenever we need help. This shows clearly that there is God who will always come forward to help us.
We reached a hilly region where we had to walk on level ground, climb up in the hilly tract and then go lower down. This hilly region was about 15 to 20 miles. This route leads us to Imphal state. At about 4 pm, in the evening it will be very cold and chill. For getting drinking water we had to go down about 200 to 300 feet by narrow pedestrian track. From 4 pm to night and early morning there will be the howling noise of jackals and other wild animals. While going through hilly tract, the route was slippery as previously there was rain. During our journey also there was light drizzling. So to avoid falling down, we had strong sticks, plucked from the forest. This stick was used, as we had to rest on the stick and walk like old men.
We passed through Imphal State and reached Dunapur railway station. There we purchased Ist class railway ticket hoping to have a comfortable railway journey. After we got into the compartment (1st. class) many passengers without tickets rushed into our compartment. There was heavy crowd in the compartment. At Dunapur railway station we purchased peas for our journey. This journey was to Na Pandu railway station. There was no bridge, we had to walk on the sands of the river and reach the other side to take the train to Sealdah railway station. We reached Sealdah railway station on 18th May, 1942.
About 4 of us joined and took a taxi and asked the taxi driver to take us to a Madrasi hotel in Calcutta. There we took Masala dosai, poori, good coffee etc. as we did not have good food or coffee etc for about 20 days. We then enquired and went to a hair cutting saloon. As we had grown lot of hair on our head and beard, we had a crop, and then took a room in the hotel. We took rest for the night. Next day we went to Howrah railway station to find out if we can go conveniently by train to Madras.
Contd…p5…
Next: Burma to India – one long walk: Pg 5
5 comments:
Hi, this is Maya, Shyam's mami. Got this link through Shyam's blog. Can't wait to read the full version. Post them soon. How are you and all at home? Love.
Hi Maya mami: Really nice of you to drop in and say hello.
I am almost done with this 'story', have only 2 more pages to go. And after that, I will be posting additional info, my observations and the version of the same events, but from my grandmother's perspective. All fine here. Sounds like Hema had a great trip to the UK.
Hi Maya mami: Really nice of you to drop in and say hello.
I am almost done with this 'story', have only 2 more pages to go. And after that, I will be posting additional info, my observations and the version of the same events, but from my grandmother's perspective. All fine here. Sounds like Hema had a great trip to the UK.
Can you imagine not eating proper food for 20 days? That masala dosai and coffee must have felt like a taste of heaven! They must have been so relieved to reach India.. I remember our thatha mentioning that some folks did not make it - tough conditions and not everyone could walk that much in such difficult situations (weather, nature etc.)
-Vidya
Vid: I was thinking the same thing. Even w/o proper food for a day or two, we are goners. Truly, they were a class apart. Yes, some people did not make it through.
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